The seminar took place on 11 - 12 June 2018 in Tallinn, Estonia. It is well known that Estonia is the world leader in e-Government and ICT and with innovative policies for the digitalisation of their industry.

This particular seminar aimed to explore how European regions are designing and implementing policies and strategies to facilitate companies, in particular SMEs, to transition towards the Industry 4.0 paradigm. Seminar participants have been encouraged to discuss their experiences as regards the coordination of digitalisation policies among the different administrative levels, with lessons learned as regards efficient and effective support offers and company practices.

While a considerable number of speakers were from the regional level, the seminar also featured other experiences from national and EU-level, across Europe. Apart from decision makers and influencers of regional policy, representatives from companies also participated to share their experiences and assessments as regards digitalisation policies and practices.

The seminar has been strongly oriented towards discussion, sharing of experiences and mutual learning of participants with a view to gaining a deeper understanding of how to construct and conduct positive policy processes.

The Regional Industrial Policy Seminars are part of the pilot project The Future of Manufacturing in Europe, an EU-financed project which has been delegated to Eurofound. The aim of these seminars is to investigate the role of regional actors and policies promoting employment in light of the very significant economic and technological challenges and opportunities for manufacturing in Europe.